sting

American  

[sting] / stɪŋ /

verb (used with object)

• stings,
  present (3rd person singular)
• stung,
  past participle,  past
• stang,
  past (Obsolete)
• stinging
  present participle

1. to prick or wound with a sharp-pointed, often venom-bearing organ.

2. to affect painfully or irritatingly as a result of contact, as certain plants do.

   to be stung by nettles.

3. to cause to smart or to cause a sharp pain.

   The blowing sand stung his eyes.

4. to cause mental or moral anguish.

   to be stung with remorse.

5. to goad or drive, as by sharp irritation.

6. Slang. to cheat or take advantage of, especially to overcharge; soak.

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verb (used without object)

• stings,
  present (3rd person singular)
• stung,
  past participle,  past
• stang,
  past (Obsolete)
• stinging
  present participle

1. to use, have, or wound with a sting, as bees.

2. to cause a sharp, smarting pain, as some plants, an acrid liquid or gas, or a slap or hit.

3. to cause acute mental pain or irritation, as annoying thoughts or one's conscience.

   The memory of that insult still stings.

4. to feel acute mental pain or irritation.

   He was stinging from the blow to his pride.

5. to feel a smarting pain, as from a blow or the sting of an insect.

   His cheeks stung from the hail.

noun

• stings
  plural

1. an act or instance of stinging.

   The allergic reaction to a sting may be delayed for several hours.

2. a wound, pain, or smart caused by stinging.

   After an hour or so, the throbbing of the wasp sting subsided to a dull ache.

3. any sharp physical or mental wound, hurt, or pain.

   Laser treatment for wrinkles sounds like magic, but some people can’t tolerate the accompanying sting and burn.

4. anything or an element in anything that wounds, pains, or irritates.

   to feel the sting of defeat;

   Death, where is thy sting?

5. capacity to wound or pain.

   Satire has a sting.

6. a sharp stimulus or incitement.

   driven by the sting of jealousy;

   the sting of ambition.

7. Botany. a glandular hair on certain plants, as nettles, that emits an irritating fluid.

8. Zoology. any of various sharp-pointed, often venom-bearing organs of insects and other animals capable of inflicting painful or dangerous wounds.

9. Slang.

   1. confidence game.

   2. an ostensibly illegal operation, as the buying of stolen goods or the bribing of public officials, used by undercover investigators to collect evidence of wrongdoing.

10. Television. Sometimes a brief burst of music or a sound effect used to emphasize a moment of humor, drama, or fright in a show, or to punctuate a transition or another part of a show’s structure.

sting British  

/ stɪŋ /

verb

1. (of certain animals and plants) to inflict a wound on (an organism) by the injection of poison

2. to feel or cause to feel a sharp mental or physical pain

3. (tr) to goad or incite (esp in the phrase sting into action )

4. informal (tr) to cheat, esp by overcharging

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noun

1. a skin wound caused by the poison injected by certain insects or plants

2. pain caused by or as if by the sting of a plant or animal

3. a mental pain or pang

   a sting of conscience

4. a sharp pointed organ, such as the ovipositor of a wasp, by which poison can be injected into the prey

5. the ability to sting

   a sharp sting in his criticism

6. something as painful or swift of action as a sting

   the sting of death

7. a sharp stimulus or incitement

8. botany another name for stinging hair

9. slang a swindle or fraud

10. slang a trap set up by the police to entice a person to commit a crime and thereby produce evidence

11. an unexpected and unpleasant ending

sting Idioms  

1. see take the sting out of.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• stingingness
  noun
• resting
  verb
• outsting
  verb (used with object)
• stinging
  adjective
• stingless
  adjective
• unstinging
  adjective
• stingingly
  adverb
• unstingingly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• stings
  plural

Participles

• stinging
  present
• stung
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• sting
  simple
• stings
  simple
• have stung
  perfect
• has stung
  perfect
• am stinging
  progressive
• are stinging
  progressive
• is stinging
  progressive
• have been stinging
  perfect progressive
• has been stinging
  perfect progressive

Past

• stang
  simple
• stung
  simple
• had stung
  perfect
• was stinging
  progressive
• were stinging
  progressive
• had been stinging
  perfect progressive

Future

• will sting
  simple
• will have stung
  perfect
• will be stinging
  progressive
• will have been stinging
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of sting

First recorded before 900; Middle English verb stingen, Old English stingan “to pierce”; cognate with Old Norse stinga “to pierce,” Gothic -stangan (in usstangan “to pull out”); the noun is derivative of the verb

Explanation

Sting most commonly refers to the wound inflicted by a bee or hornet, or to a kind of burning pain, like the brief sting when your doctor gives you a vaccine. A nasty remark can also sting. "Float like a butterfly. Sting like a bee!" was Muhammad Ali's famous taunt to other fighters. But insects and boxers aren't the only ones who can sting. When someone says something that's both mean and true, it can sting. Such things are often referred to as stinging remarks. But if you're thinking crime, then a sting is a con-job that takes planning to pull off. When the cops spend months creating a fake crime-ring in order to catch criminals in the act, it's referred to a "sting operation."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sting stings stang stung stinging

In the mid-2000s, “Dateline NBC” correspondent Chris Hansen became a national sensation for his hidden-camera sting show, “To Catch a Predator.”

From Salon ● Sep. 26, 2026

Many consumers are feeling the inflation sting from their monthly electric bills, which rose 36% since August 2021, with ratepayers now receiving $176 monthly bills on average.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 25, 2026

It took the sting off the loss — as did the Atlanta Braves’ loss to the Cincinnati Reds, a result that secured a first-round bye for the Dodgers.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026

Mr. Hansen, who became a celebrity in the mid-2000s for catching child predators in hidden-camera sting operations, has legions of fans.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026

I ice it when I get home, and when I press on the place that hurt before, the sting is so mild I might be imagining it.

From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison

For Nooria, this stings even more because she says it took a lot for her to get here.

From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026

Schmidt, an entomologist who specialized in insect defenses, created the sting-pain index which ranks stings from a harmless 0 to an excruciating 4.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026

The fact that Patel has no criminal record and is not required to be on probation stings for San Mateo County Dist.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026

"Right now it obviously really stings, so I'm just going to try and let myself feel it today - but try and get over it pretty quick," Raducanu said.

From BBC ● Jun. 14, 2026

The tiny electric stings felt like a sleeping limb waking up.

From "Healer of the Water Monster" by Brian Young

But I have strong suspicions you are, and if so, as the children say, "I hope that stang!"

From Time Magazine Archive

So soople, he could gi'e a skelp wi't, Could licht his pipe, or pick his teeth wi't; And at his pleasure, short or lang, It telescoped up to the stang.

From A Golfing Idyll or The Skipper's Round with the Deil On the Links of St. Andrews by Violet Flint

"The Lord has taken away the stang of pain out of my life," she said.

From The Men of the Moss-Hags Being a history of adventure taken from the papers of William Gordon of Earlstoun in Galloway by S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett

It's nayther for thy part, nor my part, That I ride the stang.

From Yorkshire Dialect Poems (1673-1915) and traditional poems by Frederic William Moorman

My curse upon your venom'd stang, That shoots my tortur'd gums alang, An' thro' my lug gies mony a twang, Wi' gnawing vengeance, Tearing my nerves wi' bitter pang, Like racking engines!

From Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Robert Burns

I just had to buy a car, which stung, but every other spare dollar goes toward stacking.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 28, 2026

At the same time, oil majors lack confidence that the political and legal frameworks are in place to protect their investment after being stung in the country previously.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

But please do not do this if you have allergies, or are likely to get stung.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 29, 2026

Though stung, physically and emotionally, Sara carries on with a trip to the Devil’s Mouth caves because her recently deceased father visited them.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026

She needed Grandma’s help to dress the bites that throbbed and stung.

From "The Birchbark House" by Louise Erdrich

His bigotry has prompted condemnation on the left and right, including a stinging rebuke on these pages from Karl Rove.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026

However, nearly all of that pattern can be traced to one particular group: the aculeate Hymenoptera, which includes stinging wasps, bees and ants.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 15, 2026

It’s a stinging insult: By the samurai code, Kanbei should be killed, not imprisoned — Murashige couldn’t have landed a more devastating slap than by letting him live.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026

Jellyfish tentacles are lined with thousands of venom-filled stinging cells.

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

Hot tea sprays everywhere, and a few stinging drops land on my ankles.

From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy

Related Words

• bite
• hurt
• inspire